Like most parents, I’m always looking for potential projects to keep my kids busy (ie: not screeching or fighting). So, when I got an email about checking out 8-Bit Art‘s Sticky Note Art Kit packs revolving around the classic Nintendo Super Mario Bros. game, I was definitely interested, especially because I spent far more months than I’d like to admit trying to beat that game earlier this year and the kids actually got into it right alongside me. 

So here’s the deal. Each of these packages comes with sticky notes of varying colors, a map letting you know where to place what and a removable tape measure sticker to place on the bottom of your work space so you can line everything up just right. I was sent the small Mario and Fire Power Mario (as I’ve called him my entire life).

To test this bad boy out, I found one clear spot that seemed tall enough — the back of my office door — and got to work. With the long tape measure on the door, I started methodically working from left to right, bottom to top. I found myself running into a few problems. First, I did all of this on the wrong kind of surface. Had I read the directions, I would have known that this whole thing works best on walls with flat paint! Second, I started too high up the door.

I decided to just live with the first misstep, but shifted everything down to make this dude fit. That definitely didn’t help with the sticky factor, but they held up pretty well and I kept on going. As it happened, I also wound up putting one or two too many rows in his white jumpsuit, so I’ve got a taller version of Mario here and improvised a little to finish off the cap.

Even with those hurdles, I’ve got to say this was a pretty fun project that wouldn’t have taken too long had I done it correctly the first time around! Much to my surprise, the notes are mostly still attached even though I put him up a few months ago!

I did this project solo, but think our six year old daughter would definitely be interested. She’s a big fan of LEGO right now and this is kind of in that same vein. Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet with the first package, I feel pretty confident that she and I could tackle Little Mario at some point in the future. When we do, I think I’ll get a poster board so we’ve got more flexibility as to where we put it and where we can put it together!

So, if you’re looking for an all-in-one, fairly easy craft that will cost around $7 bucks (plus poster board if you want), grab one at Target or online! If Mario’s not your bag, they also have holiday themed ones revolving around Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Halloween. I’m actually thinking about getting the Dracula and Zombie ones, they’re pretty cool!